Many mourn loss of ‘lovable’ girl

Unique Moore is shown here in this July 2010 photo with Sister Jerome Corcoran at an event at Millcreek Children’s Center in Youngstown. The 5-year-old died Monday in Akron Children’s Hospital, Akron, where she was taken after being pulled Sunday afternoon from Willow Lake Park campground swimming pool in Champion Township in Trumbull County.

Photo by: William D. Lewis

Photo

Unique Moore is shown here in this January 2011 photo with Youngstown Phantoms hockey player Adam Berkle. The 5-year-old died Monday in Akron Children’s Hospital, Akron, where she was taken after being pulled Sunday afternoon from Willow Lake Park campground swimming pool in Champion Township in Trumbull County.

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Family members will attend ceremonies Friday to accept the preschool diploma for Unique Moore, 5, of Roxbury Avenue, who died Monday after suffering fatal injuries in a Champion Township swimming pool Sunday.

“Unique was a lovable child with a promising future, and I know she was happily looking forward to kindergarten,” said Sister Jerome Corcoran, executive director of Millcreek Children’s Center, where Unique attended.

“We are all grieving her loss, and the children at the center will miss her presence.”

Unique was to graduate with 22 of her schoolmates on Friday. Her family will accept Unique’s diploma on her behalf, Sister Jerome said. The children’s center is on Essex Street on the South Side, just off Market Street.

“Though it is difficult for children 5 years old and younger to understand how tragedy affects our lives, the teachers are trained to help Unique’s classmates express their feelings,” Sister Jerome said.

“We are advising the parents of our students to comfort their children, and our staff is reaching out to Unique’s family in consolation and support.

“We think that our little children are the most precious part of our lives,” Sister Jerome continued. “When tragic events stop our daily activity, we are reminded how vulnerable these children are and that they are truly a gift of God.”

Gary Guenther, chief investigator at the Summit County Medical Examiner’s office, said Akron Children’s Hospital reported her death at 9:32 a.m. The examiner’s office will conduct an autopsy today.

Unique was taken by helicopter to Akron from St. Joseph Health Center in Warren.

Lifeguards at the swimming pool at Willow Lake Park campground on state Route 45 in Champion Township found the girl under water at about 4:30 p.m. Sunday and began to perform CPR until paramedics arrived and took over her care.

The accident happened in the campground’s 650-by-170-foot pool, featured in the Guiness Book of Records as the world’s largest chlorinated, freshwater, concrete-bottom swimming pool.

Don't Miss a Story

Sign up for our newsletter to receive daily news directly in your inbox.